29 May, 2012

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week, my teaser is from Fugitives by Alexander Gordon Smith. It's the fourth book in the Escape from Furnace series and is YA/Adventure. The books are . . . well, gory, for lack of a better word. There are some disturbing scenes, but the main character's voice shines, the writing is quite good, and the plot takes crazy turns. I usually finish Smith's books in a single day.

I stumbled, felt hands grab my arms. I stared to my side, but I couldn't make out who was there, my vision had become an ocean of dirty white flecked with sparks.

28 May, 2012

The United States federal holiday of Memorial Day, formerly known as Decoration Day, was made official on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan. It was first observed 30 May that same year, when flowers were placed on the graves of over 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery; there were also events in 27 other states.

The first state to recognize the holiday was New York in 1873, and in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, NY as the birthplace of Memorial Day. In 1971 Congress made it a national holiday that would always land on the last Monday in May (although there have been efforts to change it back to landing permanently on 30 May since then).

25 May, 2012

Today, Ciara Knight has revealed the cover for her book Weighted, which is coming out in August:

The Great War of 2185 is over, but my nightmare has just begun. I am being held captive in the Queen’s ship awaiting interrogation. My only possible ally is the princess, but I’m unsure if she is really my friend or a trap set by the Queen to fool me into sharing the secret of my gift. A gift I keep hidden even from myself. It swirls inside my body begging for release, but it is the one thing the Queen can never discover. Will I have the strength to keep the secret? I’ll know the answer soon. If the stories are true about the interrogators, I’ll either be dead or a traitor to my people by morning.

It's a prequel novelette to The Neumarian Chronicles, the first book of which will be released in 2013. Goodreads link.

Congratulations, Ciara!

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Do you know Ciara or her blog? Are there any book covers/book releases you're looking forward to?

22 May, 2012

Gosh, it's been a while since I posted for this, since last April's month-long challenge took up all my Tuesday posts. Anyway, it's nice to be back into TT swing.

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week, my teaser is from Divergent by Veronica Roth. I'd been looking forward to this book--so many people said they liked it, the premise was interesting, and I thought the cover was cool . . . but I'm on page 378 out of 487 and, frankly, wondering how fast I can get to the end so it will be over with.

I really do not like the world or the main character's attitude toward that world. To me, Tris (the MC) seems like she's willing to overlook corruption in the people around her but is happy to dig it up out of individuals against whom she holds certain grudges, without looking at all of the facts. And it drives me up the wall, not only because that's a bad idea, but because by doing so she seems to be playing right into the "antagonists'" hands. I cannot say she is for sure, of course, since I haven't completed the book, but that's what it seems like right now. (You may see a post about this book in the future, if it's true.)

Peter stops reading, and a few people turn around. Some, like Christina, look at me in a pitying way, their eyebrows drawn in, their mouths turned down at the corners. But most give me little smirks and eye one another suggestively. Peter turns last, with a wide smile.

-p. 243

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Now, on a more serious note, I wanted to mention Students for the Congo. It's run by Jen from Inside my head and other students, and their aim is to increase awareness about the Congo. They're also trying to raise money and have reached over $800 (so far) to send over. The more the word is spread the more it helps, hence this shout-out. Be sure to go check out the blog!

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Have you read Divergent? If so, what did you think of it, and did you like the main character?

20 May, 2012

It's been a very long time since I acknowledged awards I've received, for which I apologize. In fact, doing a quick search of my blog reveals that I may not have mentioned awards at all since December, and that's not to mention being tagged by several bloggers and failing to answer the questions in a timely manner.

I thought about leaving it at the apology, claiming lack of time, and letting it all slide under the rug, but then I figured better late than never--and even if I am completely unworthy, at least I can pass on the awards to other excellent bloggers I know. Right?

This, of course, is one of the awards that requires you list some things about yourself. Hold on, because I'll get to that in a moment.

As for who I'm awarding: Everyone in this list. Many of the followers I've gained in the past couple of months were A-Z Challenge participants, and there was some very versatile content during April; I also enjoyed visiting the blogs of the non-participants. Plus, I feel like I should do something for all of you readers who have followed my blog!

The rules for this one seem to be either you award the last twenty commenters on your blog or your most frequent commenters. Since I awarded the last commenters on receiving this award before, I'll use the most frequent ones this time (according to the BloggerSentral widget):

Again, another award that requires you list facts about yourself. I'm not going to award anyone this since I just did so with the above two and have mentioned the Kreativ before.

A HUGE thank you to everyone who awarded me!

Now, for those facts you were probably wondering about. Since I was tagged as part of that 11 Questions Thing Everyone Else Got To Months Ago and never got around to doing all of them, I thought I'd tackle part of my hoard all in one and count the tag(s) as my facts.

These following sets of questions are from Sophie and W.Chaser, respectively.

1.When did you start writing?
When I was twelve. At least, that was when I started the first actual novel that I completed--you could push it back farther and say I started writing with that story about taking my cat to the moon. Or the one about the dolphin and the genie. Oh, I'm actually a bit fond of that one.

4. What genre(s) do you write?
Science Fiction and Fantasy, primarily.

5. What is your favourite book, tv show and film?
Choosing one book is even harder than choosing a single character. LOL. But I think I could survive with a dictionary--at least that way I'd be able to read and improve my writing skills at the same time. TV show: I'll go with a new favorite, Star Trek. Film: Uh . . . *draws blank*

6. What is your favourite place you've visited in the world?
Washington, D.C.

7. What is your favourite music?
Classical.

8. Have you ever written fanfic?/Opinions on it?
Nope, not that I remember. I don't really have anything against it, so long as what people are writing is original.

9. Where is your favourite place to write?
Anywhere, so long as I can focus. But I usually write at a desk. (You can see a picture of it HERE.)

10. Tea or Coffee?
Neither. I don't particularly like tea and I've never had coffee.

11. Have you ever taken part in NaNoWriMo?/ Opinions on it?
Twice! I love the challenge. The stuff I've produced has never been very high-quality--the novel I wrote last year is a jumbled mess--but it's fun to write like crazy for 30 days with some abandon.

And now for the second set:

1. If you could be any fictional baddie who would you be and why?
I love this question, and had to think about it for a while. And then some more. And then I finally decided that it would be interesting to be Artemis Fowl in his early days. All that brilliant technology at his fingertips and the intelligence to match.

2. If you could go back in time and stop someone being born who would it be?
Well, certainly not my grandfather. I like being alive. Probably Hitler.

3. When do you get your most inspirational ideas?
To be more specific than "Life!" I'd say current events. Global news, science news, etc. There's a constant influx of interesting ideas these days and thanks to the web they're easy to access.

4. If you had to live without either books or music, which would it be?
Music. How that would hurt, but if you absolutely had to force me to give up one of the two . . . music.

5. Who provides the most encouragement for your writing?
Looking back at what I've done--the progress I've made--and thinking about what I could do.

6. If you could have one wish, what would it be?
World peace. Or, if that was too big of a wish, the secret to FTL travel. Or if the being granting this wish didn't like the idea of humans moving off Earth, the happiness of the people I know.

7. Do you remember your dreams and do they influence your writing?
I do most of the time, and occasionally they affect my writing. I've started a couple stories because of dreams I've had, but they've never turned into a full novel. Yet. :)

8. What word do you frequently misspell?
Release. Also, misspell itself can be tricky--it looks like someone missed a magic spell.

9. How much influence in your writing do you take from other people’s opinions?
I don't show my writing to people, other than excerpts/flash fiction I write for my blog (I know, I know, I'll have to sometime in the future). But I am influenced by what other people say about my work; if one of you comments to say this bit isn't working, I'll keep it in mind and try not to make the same mistake again.

10. If there is one book you wish you’d written, what is it?Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

11. Starter or Dessert?
Starter.

I'm not going to create another 11 Questions for this one, since the tag's dissipated from a few months ago. But if you want to participate (or snag that Kreativ Blogger Award above) then go ahead.

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And there are a couple more awards and tags that I should get to--however, since they're not as grievously late I will leave those for a later post. By which time they probably will be terribly late, but this is too long already. :P

Anything happening at your end? For the writers and other creators in the audience: What are you working on now?

17 May, 2012

Today it is my honor to host Michael Offutt, author of the new Science Fiction book Slipstream. He's an amazing blogger who writes about some truly interesting and thought-provoking subjects, so head on over to his blog and follow him. Or, you know, read this post and then head on over to his blog and follow him. Either's good.

And now, take it away, Michael!

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If you follow Eagle’s blog and are reading these words, you
are most likely a person who is scientifically minded. Eagle has probably one
of the best blogs that I visit for posting scientific thought amidst
smatterings of book reviews and other things.

Anyone that knows me or visits my blog knows that I’m in the
least, agnostic and at the most, atheist. I read Richard Dawkins, I post quotes from Sam Harris, and my heroes are
Stephen Hawking, Neil deGrasse Tyson,
and Dr. Michio Kaku. I also love
the teachings of the late Carl Sagan.

When I’m not working at the day job, I write
science-fiction. For my book, I combine
real-world science with the idea of an intelligently designed universe. This doesn’t mean I believe in intelligent
design. Rather, it means that I think intelligent design belongs in
science-fiction. And this idea really rubs some people wrong. If I wrote a fantasy novel and made up gods
and gave them all names like Aburajj the Destroyer and Makeleh the Bringer of
Light, no one would get upset. But
because the spirituality I choose to embrace in my book has (in part) to do
with Christian lore, I've had some people be very vocal in how much they
dislike that.

One person hinted in a review that spirituality should not
belong in science-fiction. Fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

But where does it belong? Given my background, it makes perfect sense for me to talk about it the
way that I do and in the format that I do.

In the end, I think that people who want a science-fiction
view of what could be actual reality in twenty years or so will not like what I
write. I'm not here to predict the
future and give you a glimpse of things I see in a crystal ball at the end of
the 21st century.

SLIPSTREAM and the series A Crisis of Two Worlds is about a
designer universe and what I hope is a new spin on angels and demons. The "spin" is I’m using real-world science
and quantum mechanics. And the final
product…It’s all fiction folks! It's all
make-believe and (in my mind) just as valid as a world that’s flat, filled with
gods and hobbits, and an all-powerful ring to rule them all. To play the
devil's advocate…aren't there already enough science-fiction books with
spaceships and aliens? I wanted something different. I wanted a story based in
present-day earth that combines some of the things that a lot of the people I
know actually believe in. I think the
result is going to be people will either love it, or they’ll despise it.

I have a contest for the release of my book. I will pick one random person who comments on
this post to win a $5 Amazon Gift Card and a SLIPSTREAM jeweled spider (the
same person wins both prizes). The jeweled spider really sparkles in the
sunlight. I hope whoever wins it really likes it. Also, please make sure that
your email is linked to your signature in some way. :) And yes, the crystal spiders
play an important role in my book.

Rules:

1) Mark my book “To Read” on
Goodreads.

2) Comment on this post.

3) Tweet this post if you have
twitter. You don’t have to sign-up for twitter. It’s the "honor" system. :)

That’s it. I will choose a winner on Saturday, May 19th. And thank you, Eagle, for having me on your
fine blog.

Your first movie, first music (song/band) first book, and first person. Four loves, one blogfest!

So, here I go:

First Movie: The Secret Garden (1987).First Music:Windy, by The Association.First Book:Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone. I first read this book when I was 9 or 10 (or at least around that age) and blazed through the sequels. Then it was an agonizing wait until the rest of the series was released.First Person: I'll have to go with non-romantic love here (because I have no social life--ahem) and say my mom.

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And now, for the Random Acts of Kindness (RAOK) Blitz!

A smile. An encouraging word. A thoughtful gesture. Each day people interact with us, help, and make our day a bit brighter and full. This is especially true in the Writing Community.

Take a second to think about writers you know, like the critique partner who works with you to improve your manuscript. The writing friend who listens, supports and keeps you strong when times are tough. The author who generously offers council, advice and inspiration when asked.

So many people take the time to make us feel special, don't they? They comment on our blogs, re-tweet our posts, chat with us on forums, and wish us Happy Birthday on Facebook.

Kindness ROCKS!

To commemorate the release of their book The Emotion Thesaurus, Becca and Angela at The Bookshelf Muse are hosting a TITANIC Random Act Of Kindness BLITZ. And because I think KINDNESS is contagious, I'm participating too!

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I thought about this post for a while, trying to think of who to acknowledge. I don't have critique partners (haven't even shown an entire novel I've written to someone else, in fact), or gone to a conference and met other writers, or done any other of those sorts of things that so many of you seem to have formed writing relationships through.

However, that's not to say there haven't been people who've given me great feedback on snippets or offered their thoughts on a writing subject I rambled about on my blog or shared their knowledge in a thoughtful post. So I'd like to thank all of you writers who read my blog for supporting me--if any of you need feedback on a story, the space to promote your book, or anything else I can do, know that I am happy to help out in any possible way.

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Do you know someone special that you'd like to randomly acknowledge? Don't be shy--come join us and celebrate! Send them an email, give them a shout out, or show your appreciation in another way. Kindness makes the world go round. :)

Becca and Angela have a specialRAOK giftwaiting for you as well, so hop on over to The Bookshelf Muse to pick it up.

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What were your First Loves? Are you participating in the RAOK Blitz, or have you been Blitzed by someone else?

09 May, 2012

With an exclusive photograph of my writing space. Yes, in an interview at The Writing Nut that's part of Nutschell's Wednesday Writer's Workspace series, you'll be able to see the first image that I've ever put onto the internet.

(On second thought, perhaps the picture is rather anticlimactic . . . though I'll let you decide for yourself.)

Anyway--if you do hop over, take a look around Nutschell's blog. It's one of my favorite sites run by a writer, with all kinds of literary awesome. :)

08 May, 2012

Normally Tuesday would be for Teaser Tuesday, but I'm taking one more week off (hope none of you mind . . .) to celebrate the release of The Backworlds (came out yesterday) by the awesome blogger M. Pax, from the blog Wistful Nebulae.

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The Backworlds is here!

The first story in the Backworlds series by M. Pax. A vision
of how humanity might colonize the galaxy some day in the distant future.

The Backworlds

After the war with
Earth, bioengineered humans scatter across the Backworlds. Competition is
fierce and pickings are scant. Scant enough that Craze’s father decides to
hoard his fortune by destroying his son. Cut off from family and friends, with
little money, and even less knowledge of the worlds beyond his own, Craze heads
into an uncertain future. Boarding the transport to Elstwhere, he vows to make
his father regret this day.

The Backworlds is an ebook and a free read. All formats can
be found at Smashwords and Feedbooks.

It'll take a few weeks to work its way down to free on
Amazon Kindle. It will also be available on B&N and iTunes. Sign up for M.
Pax's mailing list to be notified the day it does go free on Amazon, and when
the book becomes available at other outlets. You’ll also receive coupons for
discounts on future publications. The NEWSLETTER (mailing list).

About M. Pax:

M. Pax’s inspiration comes from the wilds of Oregon,
especially the high desert where she shares her home with two cats and a
husband unit. Creative sparks also come from Pine Mountain Observatory where
she spend her summers working as a star guide. She writes mostly science
fiction and fantasy, but confesses to an obsession with Jane Austen.

07 May, 2012

Today's when the blogosphere once more turns to the A-Z Challenge, but this time, it isn't an alphabet-themed post. Instead participants and non-participants weigh in on what they thought of the Challenge. From the Challenge website:

Share your pleasures, your pains, your setbacks, your gains. Who did you meet along the way that you found to be especially helpful or inspiring? Did you have a favorite blog post? Or a favorite series? Which blogs did you discover during April that you will be returning to in the future?
You can tell us what you thought were the highlights of your April Challenge, what you learned, what changes you might make next time, or what surprised you most. There are no limits as to what your Challenge experience might have been so tell us in your best way how you felt about the April A to Z Challenge of 2012.

Before I get to my reflections, I'd like to give a big, enthusiastic cheer for the hosts of the Challenge:

I had a lot of fun doing all that research. Because I had a solid theme this year--unlike in 2011--I could plan ahead and had everything scheduled by the end of April 1. It took a big load off blogging for the rest of the month, since all I had to do was edit the posts the day before and comment. I wouldn't necessarily recommend scheduling ahead of time for everyone's style is different, but for relatively factual and static post subjects, I think it works. Scheduling has greatly caught on with me, actually, because I get the impulse to do it with all of my posts now.

All my A-Z posts/images together. If you want to, view my blog (or any other Blogger site) like this HERE.

And once the posts went up, it was great to read your responses and find out what you had to say over some of today's most interesting scientific fields and their respective discoveries and advances. The blogosphere has to be one of the sharpest audiences around, and sometimes it really was a challenge to reply to your comments and answer your questions!

Will I make any changes to how I performed during the A-Z Challenge when we reach April 2013? Maybe. I'll try to comment more--but though it wasn't the entire shebang, I'm relatively content with the 400 or so blogs I visited on the sign up list, plus visiting those who commented here and attempting to keep up with regular bloggers. I think if I'd tried visiting any more I would have completely burnt out a couple weeks after starting, and I figure moderation is better than Someone help me, I'm drowning in blogs . . . by the end of April. Not that I think so many people joining in on such an event is a bad thing; quite the opposite.

All in all, I thought the A-Z Challenge was a productive, worthwhile experience. I learned things I didn't know before, I met a bunch of new bloggers, I read some really cool posts, and for an entire month I published articles that I feel like I could actually hold up and say they have some quality.

For those who participated, how was your A-Z Challenge experience? Are you planning to do it again next year? If so, have any theme ideas hit you already, if you use themes*?

For those who didn't participate in the Challenge, are you glad that May has finally arrived and you will no longer be seeing posts with the same letter in your blog reader? Would you consider participating next year?

*(In 2011 I had grand plans for 2012 . . . I'm drawing blanks for 2013 now, but hey, there's still another ten months until crunch time rolls around again. :P)

04 May, 2012

On April 14, in the midst of the A-Z Challenge, The Eagle's Aerial Perspective reached 1000 Followers!

I didn't post about this earlier due to having all my Challenge posts scheduled, and a hastily-written Sunday post didn't seem adequate, so here it is: follower celebration time!

Thank you so much, to those who've been reading this blog for months and years, and to people who have recently joined on. You all know who you are, and you help keep this blog on its feet--or, I suppose, in the air. Either way, I appreciate your show of support for what I'm doing, because it motivates me to produce higher-quality writing and I learn so much from individuals in the blogosphere. Also a shout-out to the A-Z Challenge, which undoubtedly boosted the number of visitors who came by in April.

1000 is such a milestone . . . one I didn't expect when I first started out in February 2010. It was just me and the web and a few blogs I finally stopped lurking and actively followed, and then a lot of "I have no idea what I'm going to post today, so I'll just pick something like, I dunno, how bad the weather and my word count is!"

It's amazing to be able to look back how far I've progressed since then. Though I still think there's an undercurrent of my original enthusiasm for blogging, evident in the fact that I'm still random from time to time, and you cannot categorize The Eagle's Aerial Perspective as a writing, science, review, or other specific type of blog, bad as that may be for SEO and whatnot.

But anyway, end monologue. Let's get to what I always do for follower posts: list the newest followers in the order and under the names they appear in my sidebar:

***If I do not have your link, then it means I could not find it in your Google Friend Connect profile. If you do want me to add yours (or you'd rather I linked to another site/profile or I accidentally linked to someone else--my apologies) please leave a comment to let me know.***

02 May, 2012

The Insecure Writer's Support Group was created by Alex J. Cavanaugh (the guy who seems to be everywhere in the blogosphere AND manages to host some of the coolest events).

From his site:

Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

One of the things I'm thinking as I write this post is Gosh, it's been a long time since I actually sat down and wrote a post. I had managed to schedule all of my A-Z Challenge science posts by April 1, so my blogging time was consumed almost entirely with replying to your wonderful comments here and commenting on other blogs--i.e. running around the blogosphere trying to keep up with all the Challenge madness.

Now? How strange is the idea of writing posts when I need them, and how cheerful to be able to post only a few times a week. I imagine it's like free-falling for a while and then realizing your feet are on solid, grassy ground. The only problem now is actually getting the old schedule to start working again.

What are you planning for May, post-A-Z Challenge? If you scheduled some or all of your posts (as I did), does it feel weird to be writing stuff on-the-go? Will you easily slide back into the old blogging schedule, or will it take some re-adjusting?